Cigarette maker Godfrey Phillips India Ltd informed the stock exchanges on October 12 that it had signed agreements with Vishnu & Company Trademarks Private Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary VLS Innovations Private Limited to sell or assign trademarks along with all the rights, titles and interests.

AZB & Partners advised Vishnu & Company Trademarks Private Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary VLS Innovations Private Limited. The AZB & Partners team included Partners, Niladri Maulik and Akhilesh Kumar Rai and Senior Associates, Anshuman Vikram Singh, Sugandha Bhatia and Soumili Das.

The company has announced the sale of certain non-current assets, including the rights to the leasehold land utilised for the chewing business for Rs 80 crore.

According to the regulatory filing, the sale is in line with the company’s decision to exit its chewing business, which was incurring losses and made up less than 2 percent of its overall operating revenues in the fiscal year 2021–2022.

Godfrey Phillips India noted in the filing that the buyer is in the business of manufacturing chewing products such as pan masala, flavor-enhanced elaichi, and chewing tobacco under their various brands.

In the first quarter ended June 30 of FY23, the cigarette maker reported a 16.6 percent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 131.05 crore. Revenue from operations was up 33.49 percent to Rs 981.83 crore during the quarter under review against Rs 735.49 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Godfrey Phillips’ first-quarter revenue from cigarettes, tobacco and related products increased 33.71 percent to Rs 877.19 crore compared to Rs 656.02 crore a year ago.

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